Founder of Oculus, Palmer Luckey has just shown off the Oculus Touch, the controller of virtual reality.
The latest and most innovative input device, known as the ‘Halfmoon’ by the developers, is designed to simulate an accurate and authentic experience for your hands in virtual reality.
The pair of controllers are wireless allowing you to easily move and interact within a virtual world. The Touch accommodates the same motion tracking as the Rift headset meaning that controlling the game in virtual reality will feel as ‘normal’ as possible.
Each controller is mirrored to have the same layout. A single controller has an analogue stick, two buttons and two triggers. One trigger, the “hand trigger” is used to pick things up. The example given in the Oculus conference was using this “hand trigger,” designed for the middle finger, to pick up a gun in the virtual environment where afterwards you can use your index finger on the other trigger to fire it.
The Oculus Touch is designed to consume ‘low mental load’ giving effortless game control. Thanks to this, the Oculus Touch allows for simple communicative gestures to be carried out, such as a thumbs up or the pointing of a finger.
A demo game named “Toybox” will be available at the E3 show floor to demonstrate how the Touch allows for intuitive and manipulative actions.
